“Yep. I appreciate her calling to check up on Nelle, but it’s so inconsistent. Nelle barely knows her.” I shared. I let the phone go to voicemail. I closed the door and proceeded to get into myself. My mother drove herself and was parked a few cars down from mine.
“I know, she’s like her son. That’s why I don’t know why she came to the hospital talking about taking you to court, and they’re not even around as much.”
“I thought the same thing. However, the more Jenelle grows up, and they see she doesn’t know them, they can’t blame me.”
“Right, and they better not assume anything other than the truth that they weren’t around. Hell, doesn’t his dad reach out more than her?”
“Yeah, and that baffles me because he’s in prison. He calls and asks for pictures. I don’t know if Jenelle will ever meet him, but at least she’ll know about him.”
“Mhm. Well, y’all go ahead and head home. Dinner is at six, and make sure you bring something.” My mother said as she started to walk away slowly.
“Oh yeah, I need to head home, change and put her down for a nap. Daddy and I are bringing the jerk chicken and oxtails.”
“No, yourdad is bringing chicken and oxtails.” My mother smirked.
“We live together.”
“And? Your brother is bringing the girls, and I think Roon and Kay are stopping by too. So we need plenty of food.”
“Ugh! Fine, I’ll bring something pre-made.” I said as I closed my door, started the car to warm it up, and rolled the window down a little.
“Thanks, baby. See you later, nana’s baby.” My mother said to Jenelle, who was smiling at her through the window.
“See you, mama,” I said then drove off.
∞∞∞
“How is Eric late to his own party?” I asked as I took a seat on the couch. About five months ago, my mother wanted us to start having family dinners on Sundays. It was cute at first, but now it was annoying because everybody started coming late and not bringing food as they were told to. I loved my family, so I dealt with it, and it gave us time together throughout the week since our lives were different now.
“I know, right,” Raquel said as she sat next to me with Nelle in her arms. She was eating a piece of cake and giving Nelle a bit.
“Quel, you’re going to ruin her appetite.” I scolded. I mean, we should have been eating by now, but we waiting for Eric to grace us with his presence.
“Sorry, but she saw me eating and reached for a piece of it. I couldn’t tell Titi’s baby, no.” She frowned. I didn’t say anything but rolled my eyes because I was so used to them spoiling Nelle. Honestly, it would probably be because of my family’s overly affectionate love towards Nelle, she would feel loved. And because of the father figures in her like Eric, Wayne, my dad, and Ricardo, she will probably not miss her dad’s presence.
“When was the last time she saw her daddy?” Quel asked, wiping some crumbs off Nelle’s face. She let her down to the floor, and Nelle took off to her toys a few feet away.
“She saw Jemar probably two weeks ago.”
“I wasn’t talking about Jemar. I was talking about Ricky.” She smirked. I rolled my eyes so hard that they probably could’ve gotten stuck.
“Girl, Ricky is her god-daddy. Jemar is her daddy daddy.” I blew out a harsh breath of air. I was tired of having this conversation with Quel and my family. They always made little comments about Ricky being more of Nelle’s father than Jemar. It definitely seemed that way, but I wasn’t going to say anything and have Nelle thinking Ricky was really her dad.
“You act like Jemar really cares. However, I bet if Ricky was around, he would be around Jenelle more. It’s no secret that he’s jealous of the relationship Ricky has with you and Nelle. Anytime Ricky comes into town, it’s funny how Jemar just comes around and wants to spend time with her. Wasn’t Ricky just here two weeks ago, and that was the last time Jemar saw Nelle.” I didn’t say anything because she was right. It seemed like when Ricky came in town to visit his family and us, Jemar ironically wanted to come around. And when Ricky was gone, so was Jemar.
“When Nelle calls Ricky daddy first, Jemar is going to be so hurt.” She snickered like she was already getting a kick out of it.
“Yayyyyyyyyyyy!” Janelle squealed then took off running to the front door with her little chubby legs. I guess we were so deep in the conversation that I didn’t even hear Eric come in. Eric quickly picked Nelle up and spun her around. Although she loved her uncles the same, she definitely loved Eric more because he was such a clown and made her laugh all the time.
“You missed your uncle, huh?” He said as he kissed her cheek then tossed her in the air. She didn’t say anything, but just leaned her head against his face and smiled.
33. Eric
“Finally!” My mother said as she walked into the living room. Wayne and my dad were right behind her. I saw Bre and Quel sitting on the couch. I know I was late and really didn’t have any excuse
